Miami’s Shannon Dawson tabbed as one of top coordinators in the country

Despite having yet to coach a single down with the Miami Hurricanes, new offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson has received high praise from across the college football world early on during his stint in Coral Gables.

With the offseason coaching carousel complete, CBS Sports’ David Cobb looked at the top college football coordinators poised to emerge as head coaching candidates and listed Dawson alongside Clemson offensive coordinator Garret Riley and Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, among others.

Here’s what Cobb had to say on why he believes Dawson may emerge as one of the top coordinators and head coaching candidates in the country:

“A product of the Air Raid tree, Dawson has a chance to make a name for himself at Miami this season after four years on Dana Holgorsen’s Houston staff. The Hurricanes regressed significantly on offense in coach Mario Cristobal’s first season, which led to Josh Gattis’ sudden departure and Dawson being tabbed as his replacement. For this change to yield results, Cristobal will need to relinquish control and allow Dawson to implement a system that calls for more passing than Cristobal historically prefers.

“With an elite quarterback like Tyler Van Dyke, it could be a smashing success. This is as much about Cristobal enabling his new hire to flourish as anything. If he’s willing to let Dawson shine and the Hurricanes make significant progress, Dawson could immediately become a head coaching candidate.”

While hearing your brand new offensive coordinator may be plucked from you after one year is not something many Hurricane fans would call a positive, Dawson does come to Miami with an impressive track record, and you can expect vast improvement on the offensive side of the ball, which struggled last season.

Last year, he helped lead Houston to the No. 2 scoring offense in the American Athletic Conference and the conference’s No. 4-ranked total offense, and he will look to turn around a Miami offense that ranked No. 86 nationally last season under Josh Gattis.

“Shannon’s a stud,” Miami head coach Mario Cristobal said on The Hard Count. “I mean, he was able to blend the principles of the Air Raid in the passing game and has really done a great job pounding the football. He was at West Virginia, his most recent time over at Houston. He’s an elite human being and he’s an elite teacher. And what he does really fits what we are looking for. We want to be an explosive offense and we want to be a physical offense.

“In South Florida, if you have an exciting, explosive offense, you’re gonna attract the best players from South Florida to play in this particular offense. And kind of like [new defensive coordinator] Lance Guidry, top five, top 10 in several categories and not by accident. He’s done it over a period of years. And again, it starts with being an elite human being and he’s a great connector, so the guys really enjoy being around him.”

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